USFS: OVER SNOW VEHICLES AND SUB PART C

From the Inyo National Forest: "All National Forests are required to formalize their OSV plan through environmental analysis as part of the 2005 Travel Management Rule (Subpart C). Prior to scoping, the Inyo National Forest is asking for input regarding where snowmobiles are currently used, where they should be used, as well as how to best integrate snowmobiling with the suite of winter recreational opportunities available on the forest. We are looking for public input to help us develop our proposed action. This project will designate motorized over-snow vehicle (OSV/snowmobile) use on National Forest System roads and trails and areas on National Forest System lands as allowed, restricted, or prohibited. It will also identify trails for grooming for snowmobile use. For more information about the project, go to the Project Website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=48393. We expect to have a proposed action out in April, but would like your thoughts about snowmobile use at this time, to help inform our initial proposed action. If you have some ideas about snowmobile use, please let us know! This is not a formal comment period, so your input at this point does not give you standing for objections. There will be future opportunities during scoping and comment periods for more formal comment."

Visit the Inyo National Forest collaborative mapping site to help "... determine which areas of the Forest will be open to over-snow vehicle (OSV, or snowmobile) use, and determine which trails will be groomed for snowmobile use."

Visit the Federal Register to read and review the official rule for "Use By Over-Snow Vehicles (Travel Management Rule)"

Reference Items

Listed below are documents and links that relate to the regulation, use, and development of facilities for Over Snow Vehicles (OSV) in a variety of contexts and locations. Please keep in mind that this is not a definitive archive, and that the documents and web resources all have a relationship to OSV use in the Mammoth Lakes region.

On March 26, 2014, Mammoth Lakes District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge made the decision to authorize the design and construction of an OSV/OHV staging area along Sawmill Cut-Off Road in the Shady Rest Area. The development consists of two components, I) the staging area development, and 2) the widening of Sawmill Cut-Off Road."

On February 11, 2013, the Mammoth Ranger District of the Inyo National Forest initiated an environmental analysis process under NEPA for the redevelopment of two user-created Off-Highway Vehicle/Over Snow Vehicle (OHV/OSV) staging areas.

Visit the Snowmobiling page on the Mammoth Lakes Trail System Website and review a complete inventory of all the groomed "Orange Diamond" trails ("A Trail" - "L Trail") and check out the featured experiences for this season.

Download and review this 25 year old hand-produced map that documents snowmobile use areas. The source of this map is unclear, and offers some interesting historic insights - who among us remembers the "Mammoth Lakes Basin Boblsed Areas?"